Opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley will be the first person to be interviewed by police assigned to probe his allegations of wrongdoing by top government officials in the e-mail scandal he raised in Parliament on Monday. Although he did not want to confirm or deny that Rowley would be the first interviewee, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mervyn Richardson said yesterday it was likely an interview would take place soon.
During Parliament on Monday Rowley read from e-mails which he claimed were sent from addresses owned by several high-profile government officials, including Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Works and Local Government Minister Suruj Rambachan and national security adviser to the PM Gary Griffith.
The e-mails revealed alleged plans to offer the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC, a judgeship, the intimidation of T&T Guardian reporter Denyse Renne, who broke the Section 34 story, and interference in the Judiciary. After Rowley noted the e-mails showed “high crime and conspiracy” on the Section 34 issue, Persad-Bissessar wrote to acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, ordering him to probe the matter. Williams subsequently appointed Richardson to head the investigation.
At yesterday's police press briefing at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain, Richardson said they had already started their investigation. “Yes, the investigation is in full flight. A team has been assembled and is working as we speak.” Richardson said he had met with the six-man investigative team before the briefing. The team comprises members of the Homicide Bureau and Organised Crime Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB), he said.
“The team is progressing with the investigation under my direct supervision, so the investigation is on its way.” He also said the Cyber Crimes Unit was involved in the probe. Pressed on whether international assistance would be sought, Richardson said: “One can never tell. It may be necessary to do so but at this time all the things we are doing are purely local.
“We have assembled a team, persons who are there with various skills and abilities working to bring this investigation to a speedy conclusion in the shortest possible time.” He did point out, however, that assistance would also need to be sought from Google, Yahoo and Hotmail to access their servers. Asked if the police were capable of that type of investigation, Richardson said: “As far as practicable, we will use the resources we have available internally and locally.
“If it does not reside here, we will see how we can import that but we are doing all that we can do as the national Police Service to deal with this problem right now. The team is working.” He said despite calls for an independent body to oversee the investigation, there were officers in T&T capable of probing the e-mails.
Asked about the issues which arose with several cases which he had investigated, among them the Sea Lots accident which cost the lives of a mother and her two daughters, and the new Flying Squad matter, Richardson, who has over 40 years’ experience, asked: “Are you implying we should import somebody from Canada?”
Defending his position further, he added: “I am the DCP in charge of crime in T&T and I am not aware there are question marks. “In all the investigations, they have been dealt with and forwarded to the DPP and persons have been charged so I am not aware of any question marks or hangover. “Why should I excuse myself? Is it that every time the media says something about a police officer, we excuse him, so who will investigate? “So should we bring in people to investigate. Is that what we are saying now?”
Told of the public's lack of confidence in the police and whether it would not be better to seek international help, given the magnitude of the allegations and the possible involvement of high-ranking government officials, he said: “I believe we have the competence. That is not to say that all competence resides within us but I believe if we find that it is beyond us, then we will see.
“But to do that from the onset, to me, we are taking a step there, before we even know what is before us. We are investigating and we will do whatever is necessary to ensure the integrity of the investigation is not compromised in any way.”